You have Successfully Subscribed!

KALIBO: Where are the Best Places to Eat in Kalibo?

January 24, 2013

KALIBO is a melting pot and transit hub of the Aklan province. Its food offerings are most often overshadowed by the best fresh seafood in the nearby province of Capiz or the yummy Ilonggo food in Iloilo. Most people just pass by this municipality that aspires to be a city one day.

It was a bit hard to research online about places to eat in Kalibo. Most of the recommendations online are intended for the transit tourists or the Ati-atihan backpackers but not for foodies looking for yummy local food to better appreciate the Aklanon culture.

After a three-day food trip during the Ati-Atihan Festival with more misses than home runs, here are the best places to eat in Kalibo:

SAYLO is a Visayan term which means “to welcome” or “to invite to come in“.

It is also a term which means “to transfer” which has a double meaning — it’s a good transfer stopover when you are flying via Kalibo International Airport, or if you are tired of Latte – you transfer to Saylo.

We love the hip ambiance, offering of authentic Aklanon food with a good presentation and the yummy pasta. The only thing that turned us off was the “provincial” service from the staff – lax, not trained well, and inattentive.

Still, SAYLO gets our vote as the Best Restaurant in Kalibo! Check out our Saylo Experience…

Full Disclosure:We paid for our family trip to Kalibo. I wrote this blog post myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I have no business relationship with any company mentioned in this post or any organization promoting it. As a policy, I don’t receive compensation from food and travel places we feature in the blog.

P.S. Here are the places we tried and did not like:

We did not like the seafood restaurants in Kalibo. The seafood is not that fresh and priced high like in Manila. Go to Roxas City for really good and fresh seafood.

Kitty’s Kitchen is also one of the home-grown Kalibo fastfood restaurants. We like the KK’s BBQ Ribs (P110) but the rest of the menu taste like fast-food meals.

We never found any Kalibo delicacy or pasalubong worth buying. Rosafood’s Paborita is good but I’m still looking for something unique and yummy that can only be found in Kalibo.

About me

Anton worked for the biggest multinational company in the Philippines
for 12+ years, straight out of college, before finally quitting his day job to become a full-time Online Media Entrepreneur.
OurAwesomePlanet.com, which he started in 2005, is the number #1
food and travel media in the Philippines which aims to promote the “Food and Travel Secrets in the Philippines” and to
inspire Filipinos that living in the Philippines is truly awesome!
Anton Diaz received the first Tourism Star Award for media by
the Department of Tourism for his valuable contribution in promoting
Philippine cuisine and destinations through his blog Our Awesome
Planet thereby encouraging tourists to visit and taste the best in what the Philippines has to offer.
Our Awesome Planet is recognized as one of the Top 50 Travel Blogs in
the world!

you should also try tokanz for lomi and the ihaw ihaw area along the intersection of pastrana and mabini. try their grilled tinapay smothered with bbque sauce. nothing really fancy but really satisfying after a “sad-sad” session!

great review! i agree with most of it! i’m an aklanon who moved back to aklan recently after years of living in manila & abroad. it’s really a challenge to find a good restaurant here.
next time you’re in town, do try Abre Test Kitchen. it’s a gourmet restaurant. i like their pizza. my opinion is, it’s better than shakey’s. granted it’s not a local cuisine but still… 🙂
oh, and the Boneless Crispy Pata in the Peking House is really good 🙂

It’s behind the Magsaysay Park if you’re familiar with it. If I’m not mistaken, the street address is Regalado cor Veterans Sts.
They have a small menu but almost all good, just the way i like it. i really hate restaurants offering a million things but none of ’em good.
people here are always talking about good restaurants but i’m yet to try most of it so i won’t recommend (or not for that matter) just yet. the only things that have passed by suburban taste are (not in order):
1. Pizza – Abre Test Kitchen
2. Boneless Crispy Pata – Peking House
3. Onion Rings – Saylo
4. Bacon Roll-up – Latte
5. Liempo – Ramboy’s

Being an Aklanon, I agree with you that there isn’t a lot of places to go and eat in Aklan simply because Aklanons love to cook home-cooked meals and rather go from house to house by invitation for a great, sumptuous meal. Inubarang manok is one of the province’ delicacy. For goodies, try to go to Jocyl’s for their pasalubong and Longanisang Aklan. To experience Aklan’s trade of Pina, Jusi, and Nito weaving, go to Dela Cruz House of Pina. But I must agree, Ramboy’s is the best liempo in town. Haven’t found anything quite like it in Manila.

Did you try the chiffon cake in Bread and Butter? It’s the best chiffon cake ever, IMO. I always bring home minimum of 3 boxes because my family and friends are crazy about it.
Also, try the fish tocino, danggit and dried pusit from the Kalibo public market. Really good. 🙂

Thank you for a wonderful review of Bread & Butter. Yes, Siopao and chiffon are some of our best products. We have more than 60 branches all over Western Visayas and Oriental Mindoro.
Hello Anton, let us know how we can send you some of our chiffon and other goodies. 🙂 You can email us at [email protected].
Thank you!

Hi,
in Kalibo Airport, across the Departure area, you will find vendors selling Aklanon suman – “ambu-eong” and latik w/ bucayo. At 15pcs for P100, they are a little overpriced compared to the ones sold in Kalibo public market. But you can be assured of the quality.